Trail Centres

In a little over 15 years, purpose-built UK trail centres have transformed mountain biking – and mountain bikes. Outdoor writer Jon Sparks assesses their pros and cons, and wonders how they’ll develop further.

Trail centres

Trail centres range from well-developed hubs like Glentress and Coed-y-Brenin, which have cafés, bike shops, bike hire and a wide range of trails, to other spots with a few kilometres of trail and a car park. The unifying factor is the existence of purpose-built cross-country trails, often graded like ski runs: green, blue, red and black (green being easiest, black hardest).